Evidence gap and knowledge map of physical activity research in diabetes in Iran: A scoping review

Context: The important role of physical activity in the prevention and management of diabetes necessitates a review of current research to shed light on gaps in national diabetes guidelines. Evidence Acquisition: This scoping review was part of the Iran Diabetes Research Roadmap (IDRR) study. A systematic search was used based on the Arksey and O�Malley method consisting of six steps. The descriptive analysis was done with SPSS software. Additionally, VOS veiwer software was used to draw the knowledge map of the included studies. Results: There were 169 articles included from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2019 in Iran. Aerobic and resistance exercises were types of physical activity with more number of articles. Most of the included clinical studies were randomized clinical trials and had a level of evidence two. Also, there was more interest in outcomes such as glycemic control and insulin sensitivity, metabolic syndrome, metabolism, and cardiovascular health. The network of co-authorship was drawn, and "controlled study", "male", and "rat" were the most frequent keywords. Conclusions: The number of Iranian diabetes researchers on physical activity is increasing, and the majority of clinical studies had a high level of evidence. With maintaining previous interests and investigations, there should be more emphasis on research in elderly and children age groups as evidence gap in Iran. Also, longitudinal cohort studies should be highlighted and Iranian researchers should be encouraged to participate in new topics of research worldwide. Copyright © 2021, International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism

Association of Zinc, Copper and Magnesium with bone mineral density in Iranian postmenopausal women - a case control study

Background: The risk of inadequate nutrition such as trace elements and vitamin deficiencies is considerable in postmenopausal women. The aim of this study was to compare trace elements (Zinc, Copper and Magnesium) concentration in nail, urine and serum among osteoporotic postmenopausal women with control group in Iran.Methods: Forty eight postmenopausal women aged 36-60 years, were recruited, consisting 30 osteoporotic patients and 18 healthy controls. Blood, nail and urine concentration of Zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and magnesium (Mg) were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma -Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) method. Their Bone Mineral Density was measured by Dual X-ray Absorption (DEXA) method.Results: The urine level of trace elements had significant difference between osteoporotic groups and controls (p < 0.001). Moreover Mg level significantly differed in serum between two groups (p < 0.04). There was no statistically significant difference in trace minerals in nail beyond groups.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that Urine Zn level could be considerable an appropriate marker for bone absorption, usage of Zn supplements in postmenopausal women may result a beneficial reduction in osteoporotic risk. © 2014 Razmandeh et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Diabetes Basic Science Research in Iran

To date, diabetes research is lacking which elucidate the feature of the studies for measuring the attitude of researchers. This data-set was designed to provide a comprehensive map for diabetes basic science research and intends to display the hot points and gaps of the research in this field

The effects of Chlorella supplementation on glycemic control, lipid profile and anthropometric measures on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: Diabetes is a chronic disease and the prevalence of it is rapidly increasing. Recently, the use of natural products in chronic diseases such as diabetes has gained more attention. Chlorella, a single-celled green alga, is one of them. There have been some studies on the effects of chlorella supplementation in chronic diseases such as NAFLD, prediabetes, and diabetic mice, but none of them examined the effects of chlorella in patients with T2DM. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of chlorella supplementation on glycemic control, lipid profile, and anthropometric indices in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods: This study is a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. 84 patients with T2DM assigned into two groups, receiving 1500 mg/day C. vulgaris or placebo for 8 weeks. Anthropometric information, blood pressure, 24-h food intake recall, and blood samples were collected at the beginning and end of the study to determine the changes of FBS, HbA1c, insulin concentration, insulin resistance, and lipid profile. Results: None of the variables investigated in this study showed a significant change after 8 weeks of intervention with C. vulgaris. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, supplementation with C. vulgaris with a dosage of 1500 mg/day for 8 weeks, does not improve the anthropometric measurements, glycemic status, and lipid profile as well. Thus, it cannot be considered as a complementary therapeutic approach to common medications at this dosage and duration. However, future studies with a higher dosage of C. vulgaris and more prolonged than 8 weeks are needed to be done. © 2021, Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature

The effects of dietary/herbal supplements and the serum levels of micronutrients on the healing of diabetic foot ulcers in animal and human models: a systematic review

Purpose: Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) is one of the common and serious complications in patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) worldwide. Given the considerable tendency of patients suffering from DFU to use the complementary therapies, the objectives of this study were to: (i) summarize the effects of dietary and herbal supplements on DFU characteristics and metabolic parameters in both animal models and clinical trials, and (ii) evaluate any links between the serum levels of micronutrients and DFU in observational studies. Methods: A systematic search in five electronic databases including PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library was conducted to find relevant English language published from 1990 until 31 December 2018. Results: Of a total of 8603 studies, 30 eligible papers including animal studies (n = 15), clinical trials (n = 7), and observational works (n = 8) were included in the systematic review. We found that some dietary/herbal supplements and micronutrients had positive effects on the wound healing. However, limited evidence is existed. Also, lower serum levels of vitamin D, C, vitamin E, and selenium in patients with DFU were likely to increase the risk of DFU, leading to impaired wound healing. Conclusion: Findings suggested that some dietary and herbal supplements such as Vitamin D, Magnesium, Vitamin E, Probiotic, Zinc, and Pycnogenol would be effective on wound healing of DFUs. However, further high-quality randomized controlled clinical trials and prospective cohort studies are needed to clarify the roles of micronutrients and other dietary and herbal supplements on the progress and treatment of DFU. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Docosahexaenoic acid-rich fish oil supplementation improves body composition without influence of the PPARγ Pro12Ala polymorphism in patients with type 2 diabetes: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial

Background: The aims of this research were to investigate (1) the impact of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich fish oil supplementation on body composition, plasma adiponectin level, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) gene expression, and (2) whether the effect of DHA-rich fish oil supplementation on the aforementioned variables is modulated by PPARγ Pro12Ala polymorphism. Methods: We genotyped PPARγ Pro12Ala polymorphism in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Ala carriers and non-Ala carriers were randomly assigned to DHA-rich fish oil or placebo intake for 8 weeks. Results: Glycemic control was not affected by the intervention. The supplementation with DHA-rich fish oil decreased waist circumference (p < 0.001), body fat mass (p = 0.01), body fat percent (p = 0.04), and visceral fat rating (p = 0.02) as well as trunk fat mass (p = 0.04). Weight, body mass index, fat-free mass, adiponectin level, and PPARγ gene expression changes showed no significant difference. No gene-diet interaction was found on body composition, adiponectin level, and PPARγ gene expression. Conclusions: DHA-rich fish oil supplementation favorably modulated body composition in patients with T2DM and could be useful to reduce visceral obesity. However, the PPARγ Pro12Ala polymorphism did not influence the changes in the desired variables. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel

Effect of DHA-rich fish oil on PPARγ target genes related to lipid metabolism in type 2 diabetes: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial

Background The beneficial effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on lipid levels are well documented. However, the related molecular mechanisms are widely unknown. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are natural ligand for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ). Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich fish oil supplementation on modulation of some PPARγ-responsive genes related to lipid metabolism. Methods Patients with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to consume either DHA-rich fish oil (containing 2400 mg/d fish oil; DHA: 1450 mg and eicosapentaenoic acid: 400 mg) or placebo for 8 weeks. Lipid profile and glycemic control parameters as well as the gene expression of PPARγ, liver x receptor-a, ATP-binding cassette A1, and CD36 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were measured at baseline and after 8 weeks. Results DHA-rich fish oil supplementation resulted in decreased triglycerides (TG) level compared with placebo group, independently of the baseline value of TG (all patients (P = .003), hypertriglyceridemic subjects (P = .01), and normotriglyceridemic subjects (P = .02)). Moreover, a higher reduction in TG level was observed in hypertriglyceridemic subjects, comparing to normotriglyceridemic subjects with DHA-rich fish oil supplementation (P = .01). Other lipid parameters as well as the expression of PPARγ, liver x receptor-a, ATP-binding cassette A1, and CD36 were not affected by DHA-rich fish oil supplementation. Only in hypertriglyceridemic subjects, DHA-rich fish oil supplementation upregulated CD36 expression, compared with the placebo group (P = .01). Conclusions DHA-rich fish oil supplementation for 8 weeks increased CD36 expression in hypertriglyceridemic subjects, which might result to higher reduction in TG level, comparing with normotriglyceridemic subjects. However, this finding should be investigated in further studies. © 2015 National Lipid Association